Girl killed in womb?: No complaint lodged even after four days

Four days after an alleged medical termination of pregnancy was conducted on a woman, who was in her second trimester, police officials haven't taken any action to unearth the facts or apprehend the persons behind the illegal act. The 22-year-old lady, a resident of Talegaon Dabhade, and her husband, are alleged to have opted for abortion after they got to know that it was a female foetus.

MiD DAY's report on March 6

The delay in registering a criminal offence has not gone down well with the activists who brought the matter to light. They fear that the hold-up may lead to destruction of key evidence and could benefit the perpetrators of this heinous crime. MiD DAY had reported (‘Another girl child killed in the womb', March 6) on the incident wherein social activists accused the parents of killing their unborn girl after doctors of a private hospital prescribed medicine for abortion.u00a0

When MiD DAY visited Vadgon-Maval, where the incident took place on Sunday, it was found that both the cops and doctors were passing the buck and the onus of registering a case was being neglected. u00a0Convener of Lek Ladki Abhyiyan Varsha Deshpande, who tipped civil surgeon Dr Vinayak More about the case, expressed displeasure over the delay in registering the case. She said "The district civil surgeon should register a complaint regarding the medical termination of pregnancy and the doctor who conducted the investigation should file a complaint against the doctors responsible for revealing the gender of the foetus wherein norms under the Pre-conception Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act were clearly violated."u00a0

‘May go to court'
Deshpande added, "If both the authorities fail to register a complaint within a stipulated time, we would file a case in the court against the doctors responsible for dereliction of their duty."

Ganesh Borade, a volunteer with Lek Ladki, said, "On behalf of our organisation, we have sent a notice demanding to know why action should not be taken against the civil surgeon if doctors responsible for sex determination tests and abortions are not booked?"

Meanwhile, the patient claims it was spontaneous abortion and that that no one prescribed her medicines that might have led to the abortion.

"I experienced intermittent bleeding on several occasions during my menstruation cycles in December till March. This month, I got to know that I was 19 weeks pregnant after an ultrasound was carried out on me to ascertain the cause of bleeding and stomach pain," said the lady, who declined to be named.

Passing the buck
Police inspector Sopan More of Vadgaon Maval police station said that they haven't received a complaint from doctors who investigated the case. He said, "The action against the responsible persons is only possible after a formal complaint is registered in the matter."

Contradicting Police Inspector More's claims, Dr G G Jadhav, Chief Medical Officer of rural hospital in Maval area, said, "It is responsibility of police to register a complaint under the MTP Act since we have already helped them by sharing our medical expertise."u00a0